Folding table



Aug. 31, 1937.-

u. K. JOHANNSEN 2,091,945

FOLDING TABLE Filed Feb. 28, 19:56

INVENTOR uno K. 40mm sen bziw ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 31, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOLDING TABLE Application February 28, 1936, Serial No. 66,193

6 Claims.

My invention broadly relates to portable foldlng tables, and is more particularly directed to a collapsible ironing board stand of the threelegged, metal chassis type in which the legs are adapted to compactly fold fiatwise underneath the table board when said understructure is not extended for use.

A pair of complementary rear legs have one end thereof pivotally attached under the top board and a single rigid front leg is similarly attached in a fixed spaced relationship'to the rear leg pivots. All of my rectilinear legs are positively actuated in unison between their erected and collapsed positions by the use of an improved actuating gear whose function will readily be comprehended by housewives who are not mechanically inclined and the operation of which chassis requires a comparatively small muscular exertion. Such controlled leg movement is herein brought about by means of companion guide rods that pivotally interconnect the several rear legs with the front leg in a novel manner that permits of automatically spreading the floor contacting tip of such rear'legs when my table is set up into erected position. I

In addition, I provide for an improved bipartite locking rod or linkage of the jointed toggle type of which one free link end may be pivotally secured adjacent to the underside of the table board in thevicinity of a rear leg board pivot. My other or mated locking rod component constitutes a manipulative link or rockable lever whose unjointed end is preferably fulcrumed upon an auxiliary pivot located contiguous to or coincident with the front leg guide rod pivot. Such lever is kept comparatively short with respect to its mated toggle component and arranged to swing within finite limits about its auxiliary pivot into a locked or a released position. To interlock the erected legs, the jointed end of my cranklike lever is rocked in a direction toward the floor contacting extremity of the erected front leg and through a toggle dead center position into one extreme of travel whereby to cause said linkage to snap into a shortened overall length. When released, the table legs are free to collapse in unison, but when locked in erected chassis position, my ironing board is rendered inherently rigid while having a heavy downward pressure imposed thereon.

The profile of each such metal table leg is preferably given a cross-sectionally angle shape to combine ample lateral-stiffness with low chassis weight that shall not for a prescribed loading requirement, prove burdensome to women when carried to and from a storage closet.

The object of the present invention is to provide for a sturdy, foldable understructure of the character indicated in which the board supporting legs are kept rigid throughout the respective lengths thereof and that shall possess comparatively essential fulcrum points to constitute an assembly that is especially suited for rapid production on an extensive scale at a low fabrica- 1 tion cost.

Embodied herein are also other novel features such as an improved pintle structure adapted to effectively hinge the spreadable rear legs of my board in a simplified manner. Reference is had 15 to the accompanying one sheet of drawings which is illustrative of certain exemplifications, and in which drawing: I

Fig. 1 represents an elevational front end view of an erected ironing board assembly equipped 20 with my devices, and Fig. 2 is a side view thereof.

Figs. 3 and 4 respectively show a side and a bottom view of my chassis when fully collapsed.

Fig. 5 shows in enlarged scale, a perspective view of certain structural details of the manipu- 25 lative toggle linkage used in Fig. 2, and Fig. 6 discloses a modified form thereof.

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view taken along 'I--'! of Fig. 5, and. Fig. 8 cross-sectionally details my rear leg as taken along 8-8 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 schematically depicts a modified linkage hook-up over that disclosed in Fig. 2.

Referring more specifically to my preferred embodiment, the numerals Ill and II respectively designate a pair of rear legs that may be made up from relatively thin, reversely mounted angle iron lengths of which one such profile is detailed in Fig. 8. An elongated sheet metal bracket I2 is disposed crosswise of the table top or board l3 and fixedly secured thereto by suitable fastenings. The longitudinal edges of said bracket may be upturned into reenforcing lips and the medial region thereof stamped to include a hook I 4 by which to hang up the collapsed board. To each side of said hook, lies a winglike leaf portion which is respectively cross-sectionally offset or channeled as at [5 and IS in a reversed, axially oblique relationship and secured to the top by rivets 34 or the like (see Fig. 4).

A triangularly shaped or the like leg mounting member such as I! may be made up from metal rod stock of which one length component is pivotally mounted within a leaf channel to constitute a snugly fitted rear leg hinge pintle l8; another component is embraced within the upper portion of a rear leg angle iron and secured thereto: while still another component length serves as a lateral leg strut. The adjacent sharp bends of each such complementary pintle member when 5 mounted in place, are preferably kept spaced apart, as shown. A sole plate may be interposed between the channeled leaves and the table board to obviate pintle wear. In addition, the top of each rear leg may be appropriately beveled and my, bracket extended to provide for opposed metal stop lips i2A against which to abut the respective beveled ends when the rear legs are fully erected. The described inclined hinge disposition is such that when the rear legs are collapsed, they will lie in substantial parallelism alongside their respective board edges but in their erected position, the feet of the rear legs automatically spread apart in the Fig. 1 manner.

My front leg 2| is also of the one-piece, rectilinear type preferably stamped up from sheet metal into a continuous semi-tubular or the like channel formation including a relatively fiat web element 35 that is shown markedly tapered toward the foot region thereof and whose upper end region may be provided with a cross-sectionally rounded bead such as 36 that is raised along the exterior surface of the web 35 to extend axially lengthwise thereof for stiffening and decorative purposes, it being obvious that such neat front leg enhances the trim of the erected board assembly. The wider upper leg end may be pivoted at 22 to a lug strap 23 provided with a pair of ears that are spaced to impart lateral rigidity to the front leg mounting. Each such rigid table leg may be equipped with suitable shoe means at the respective floor contacting ends thereof. The actuating gear whereby the front and rear legs are made to fold or unfold in unison about their respective board pivots l8 and 22 will now be defined. To this end, I may resort to a pair of guide or brace rods such as 25 which are herein used in combination with one or more bipartite locking rods of which one jointed component is designated as 26. In the present tripod structure, the front leg 2! between the ends thereof, is provided with an auxiliary pivot 21 that may have one or more spacer bushings 24 disposed therearound in the Fig. '7 manner. Said front leg may be longitudinally slotted at 28 to 5 receive a manipulative lever or rocker arm 29 of which one end may be mounted upon the auxiliary pivot 21 and between said bushings as detailed in Fig. 5 to constitute the other component of said bipartite locking rod means. The swinging end of said lever may be equipped with a raised finger piece 30 to facilitate its manipulation.

The companion guide rods 25 may respectively be pivoted to a different rear leg between the ends thereof by an intermediate pivot 3i and the other guide rod ends are preferably but not necessarily, riveted to opposed terminals of the auxiliary pivot 21, as shown, that is, as an equivalent, the jointed connection of said other guide rod ends with the front leg may be carried to a separate pivot located contiguous to the auxiliary pivot 21. The lever or mated link component 29 may be apertured near its swinging end and have the nose of an offset V-shaped lock- 7 ing rod or link component 26 entered therethrough to constitute a medial joint or floating pivot 32 for my toggle linkage. The divergent ends of said locking rod are here shown independently pivoted at 33 by suitable rod pintle means located closely adjacent to their respective rear leg pivots l3, it being pointed out that the location of the pivotal attachment 33 is to a certain extent optional, except that the rear end of each such locking rod component 23 terminates in proximity to the board l3 at a proper rearward distance from the front leg pivot 22. In" Fig. 9 for instance, the locking rod 26" is connected to the rod pintle 33" which is here differently carried by the board as an equivalent for the rear leg pivot 33.

Assuming the jointed components 28 and 23 of my leg actuating toggle linkage to be shifted into the inverted relationship shown in Figs. 2 and 5, then the overall length between the auxiliary pivot 21 and the rear rod pivot 33 will become shortened by snapping the finger piece downwardly toward the foot of the erected front leg. Such toggle disposition serves to'lock the brace rods 23 against movement about their pivots 21 and 3|, which in turn rigidly retains the erected front and rear legs against collapse toward the top board. Any heavy. downward pressure exerted upon said board tends to spread apart the feet of the respective front and rear legs, but this effort is firmly resisted by lever pressure exerted 'against its adjacent front leg without the need of any extraneous latching means. Except for my intrinsic toggle lock, the guide rods of themselves would allow the respective legs to collapse in unison. When collapsed, the foot of the front leg preferably overhangs one end of the top board as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. A folded ironing board of this kind may be conveniently handled by standing the same upright upon such floor rest without defacing the fabric covering that is usually attached to one board side face.

To unfold my all-metal chassis, one of its legs may readily be drawn away from the board and by virtue of my rod interconnections, the other legs will regularly follow in unison. A like result may be had by thumping said overhanging front leg foot upon the fioor. and simultaneously tilting the board in a proper direction. When performed rapidly, the lever 29 may thereby be thrown outwardly so as to automatically snap into its extreme full-lined position of Fig. 5, otherwise the finger piece 30 must be manually continued to carry the toggle pivot 32 through its dead center position in which the last named pivot falls into alignment with the pivots 21 and 33 so as to complete a locking of the lever 23. Preparatory to collapsing said chassis, the lever 29 is raised outwardly away from the free extremity of the front leg into the dotted position of Fig. 5, whereupon the several legs may be unrestrainedly folded in unison toward one board face into their Fig. 3 position.

It is emphasized that my bipartite actuating gear operates in a reverse manner from a conventional toggle leg brace in that the jointed component links 26 and 29 of the present actuating gear serve to lock the erected legs when my toggle linkage is inverted as in Fig. 2. On the other hand, said toggle components assume a substantially aligned relationship when the legs are fully collapsed. In the latter instance, the medial toggle joint 32 lies in a normal relationship between the extended link ends, whose respective pivots 21 and 3| then become spaced apart into a lengthened condition. The finger piece 30 is at the same time neatly placed out of the way closely adjacent to the board as in Fig. 3. When the legs are erected, my inverted toggle linkage draws the pivot points together into a retracted or shortened condition. Furthermore, it is preferred to axially cross the inclined guide rods 25 with respect to the locking rod 26 in erected or spread leg position and to so space these rod members apart that they will then produce a frictional drag and lateral crowding at the cross point region thereof for the purpose of promoting frame rigidity.

In Fig. 6 there is shown a slightly modified lever structure 29' of the stamped forked type.

10 By its use, the front leg 2i does not need to be slotted; instead the lever forks may straddle said leg and be secured thereto by the through supplementary rivet 21 having a pair of guide rods such as 25 attached to the respective rivet ends. The free end of said forked lever is likewise provided with a finger piece 30'. In this alternative disclosure, a pair of separate locking rods such as 26' are resorted to and one of their respective ends is shown pivoted to the lever 29' at 32' to again constitute the medial joint for my toggle linkage. It will be obvious that the function of this modified lever 29' is identical-with the corresponding component link 29. In Figs. 5 and 6 the respective outer lever portions or swingable ends of these full-lined links are directed toward the floor contacting terminal of the front leg associated therewith and lie in one of their extreme stop positions; when the links 29 or 29' are reversed, they assome an oppositely directed stop position as shown in Fig. 3.

In my foldable table, all structural parts are kept extremely simple and comparatively light in weight in order to reducefabrication and as- 35 sembly costs to a minimum which enables my table to be profitably sold at a correspondingly low retail price as a household commodity through chain stores and the like large scale distributors.

Other advantages inherent in my all metal foldable table chassis are believed apparent to those skilled in this art, it being obvious that the same underlying structural principles may be utilized in associations other than for ironing board stands, and that various modifications in design may readily be resorted to in likewise carrying out my illustrative embodiments, all without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention heretofore described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a. top board, a rear leg structure having one 55 end thereof pivotally attached to said board, a

rigid front leg pivoted to the board in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, intermediate pivot means located on the rear leg structure between the ends thereof, brace rod means pivotally interconnecting the intermediate pivot means with said front leg and arranged to shift the several legs in unison in a common direction, a manipulative lever of which one end portion 65 is pivotally mounted upon the front leg and the other lever end portion is rockable between opposed extreme travel positions respectively directed toward and away from the fioor contacting terminal of the front leg, stop means 70 confining the travel of the other lever end portion wholly forward of the longitudinal axis of the front leg, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, and a locking rod pivotally intercon- 75 necting the aforesaid other lever portion with the rod pintle means, said lever and locking rod respectively constituting components of a toggle Joint by which said lever when rocked toward the front leg terminal guides the adjoined looking rod end in an arcuate path about the pivotal mounting of said lever into a certain aligned dead center relationship and which lever when rocked onwardly therebeyond into one such extreme travel position restrains the brace rod means against movement about either rod pivot thereof! 2. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a top board, a pair of rear legs having corresponding ends pivotally attachedto one side face of said board, a single rigid front leg also pivoted to said face in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the respective rear legs. an intermediate pivot located on each rear leg between the respective ends thereof, complementary brace rods whose ends pivotally interconnect the respective intermediate pivots with said front leg and are arranged to shift the several legs in unison in a common direction, a manipulative lever of which one end portion is pivotally mounted upon the front leg and the other lever end portion is rockable between opposed extreme travel positions respectively directed toward and away from the floor contacting terminal of the front leg. stop means confining the travel of the other lever end portion wholly forward of the longitudinal axis of the front leg, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear legs, and complementary locking rods of which the respective ends pivotally interconnect the aforesaid other lever portion with the rod pintle means, said lever and lock-- ing rods respectively constituting components of toggle joint means by which the lever when rocked toward the front leg terminal guides both its adjoined locking rod ends in an arcuate path about the pivotal mounting of said lever into a certain aligned dead center relationship and which lever is automatically carried onwardly by snap action beyond said dead center into one extreme stop position.

3. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a top board, a rear leg structure having one end thereof pivotally attached to said board, a rigid front leg pivoted to the board in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, intermediate pivot means located on the rear leg structure between the ends thereof, brace rod means pivotally interconnecting the intermediate pivot means with said front leg and arranged to shift the several legs in unison in a common direction, a manipulative lever of which one end portion is pivotally mounted upon the front leg and the other lever end portion is rockable between opposed extreme travel positions, stop means confining the travel of the other lever end portion wholly forward of the longitudinal axis of the front leg, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, and locking rod means pivotally interconnecting said other lever portion with the rod pintle means, said other lever portion being so constructed and arranged that when rocked into one extreme stop position the adjoined end region of said locking rod means is guided into an axially crossed relationship with respect to the corresponding end region of the brace rod means whereby to lock said brace rod means against movement about the respective pivots thereof when the several legs are erected and which other lever portion when rocked toward its opposite extreme stop position guides the locking rod into substantial parallelism with the brace rod means and thereby releases the last named means to allow the erected legs to fold unrestrainedly toward the top board.

4. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a top board, a rear leg structure having one end thereof pivotally attached to said board, a rigid front leg pivoted to the board in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, intermediate pivot means located on the rear leg structure, an auxiliary pivot located on the front leg between the ends thereof and having its pivotal axis disposed crosswise of the leg length, brace rod means interconnecting the intermediate pivot means with said auxiliary pivot and arranged to guide the several legs in unison in a common direction, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, locking rod means having one end attached to the pintle means, and manipulative means including a floating pivot shiftably mounted upon the front leg and which pivot is operatively connected to the other end of the locking rod, said manipulative means being so constructed and arranged as to shift said floating pivot into alternative extreme travel positions respectively located lengthwise of the front leg in different directions away from the aforesaid axis, stop means limiting the travel of the floating pivot when directed toward the floor contacting terminal of the front leg, and which stop means are disposed to retain the brace and locking rod means against movement about the respective pivots thereof when the front leg is fully erected.

5. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a top board, a rear leg structure having one end thereof pivotally attached to said board, a rigid front leg pivoted to the board in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, intermediate pivot means located on the rear leg structure between the ends thereof, an auxiliary pivot located on the front leg between the ends thereof and having its pivotal axis disposed crosswise of the leg length, brace rod means pivotally interconnecting the intermediate pivot means with the auxiliary pivot and arranged to guide the several legs in unison in a common direction, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, a locking rod having one end attached to said pintle means, and manipulative control means including a lever mounted upon the auxiliary pivot to rock about the aforesaid axis and operatively connected to shift the other end of the locking rod therewith, opposed stop means limiting the travel of said other locking rod end between extreme positions respectively located lengthwise on said front leg and having said axis interposed therebetween, said control .means being so constructed and arranged that upon shifting said other locking rod end toward the floor contacting terminal of the front leg into one such extreme position, both of the aforesaid rods become interlocked against relative movement about the respective pivots thereof and thereby retain the several erected legs against collapse.

6. A collapsible table or the like adapted to unfold into erected position, said table comprising a top board, a rear leg structure having one end thereof pivotally attached to said board, a rigid front leg pivoted to the board in a forwardly spaced relation to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, said front leg being channel shaped in cross-sectional profile to include mated flanges that are integrally interconnected by a web, intermediate pivot means located on the rear leg structure between the ends thereof, an auxiliary pivot located on the front leg intermediate the ends thereof and which pivot extends transversely through both the aforesaid flanges, brace rod means interconnecting the intermediate pivot means with the auxiliary pivot and arranged to shift the several legs in unison in a common direction, rod pintle means located adjacent to the pivotal attachment of the rear leg structure, a manipulative lever mounted between said flanges to rock upon the auxiliary pivot, opposed stop means limiting the lever travel between extreme positions respectively located lengthwise of the front leg in different directions away from the axis of the auxiliary pivot, and a locking rod pivotally interconnecting an outer portion of said lever with the rod pintle means, said lever being so constructed and arranged that when rocked toward the floor contacting end of the front leg into one such extreme position, the brace rod will be restrained against movement about the respective pivots thereof when the several legs assume their respective erected positions.

UDO K. JOHANNSEN. 

